Uncovering the Wonders of Nature in Cow Bay Nova Scotia

Water, Water Everywhere

Along with an image of the Bluenose schooner, our Nova Scotia license plates have ‘Canada’s Ocean Playground’ written on them. Water is everywhere here: in the sea that surrounds us almost completely, the lakes that dot the province inland and the misty bogs that are found in the spaces between. To live in Nova Scotia is to know water. Our history and lore is full of fishermen, sailors and privateers, men who made a living at sea.

But you don’t need to be a Bluenoser to know water. You just need to live on the planet. Water is everywhere and where it is most rare, there it is also most precious.

Water images from our recent scavenger hunt reveal the variety of ways water infiltrates our psyches. Jessica from The Magical Mundane offered that “Water is a feminine, flowing element associated with patience and quiet strength, but it can also generate fear with its power.” Dawn‘s image at centre, of a fish in water, is from Australia, where water resources are highly vulnerable to climate change.

When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.

~ Benjamin Franklin

Water’s colors range from bright aqua to the darkest of blue-blacks with everything in between. It is also transparent. Fluid and adaptable, water conforms itself to whatever shape will hold it: crystals in snow, or droplets in clouds and rain, fruits and flowers and swimming pools. Water also makes up most of our human bodies. We are water itself.

10 Responses

Thank you for this thoughtful post. What I admire and attempt to emulate about water on a philosophical level is how fluid and adaptable it is, and how reflective. On a tonal level, water shows the blue-green range that speaks to me personally in the strongest way. I always want to live within daily site of it.

Robin, the blue-green hue is so refreshing. I’ve seen the water that color off the coast of Nova Scotia a few times but not as often as I’d like. It so often looks a dark blue or a steel grey. I tend to associate the blue-green more with warmer waters.

I never thought of water’s reflective property until you mentioned it. It has so many wonderful qualities. Did you ever see the aliens mould the water into different shapes in the movie The Abyss? That was really cool.

Yes, thanks, Amy, for instigating all of this! You have definitely got me looking differently at the world around me–more observant now, more thoughtful. Not to mention giving me the impetus to learn how to use my digital camera!

It’s really neat to see all of our representations of an element together. I agree, Gerry & JoAnn–We did really well!

Sahlah, like you, I have always lived in coastal areas, always within an hour of an ocean–from Central California to Amy’s part of Nova Scotia to BC’s Lower Mainland.

Robin, I like your comment about emulating the fluidity, adaptability and reflectivity of water in life. They are traits I have certainly had to work at developing in my life. Circumstances often require these traits; having them makes it easier to handle some of the things people and life throw my way. I like the way you’ve expressed the idea.

So…when is our next group activity??? Picnic on the beach, anyone?
;-D

Grace, I hope you managed to get out there while the sun was still out a bit. I thought it was supposed to be nice this week! Yes, we are lucky to have so much water here. There are so many beaches both on lakes and the ocean to choose from.